Field hockey hiccups at SUNYAC opener

by Paul Cifonelli - Staff Writer

Tue, Sep 25th 2018 10:00 pm

The field hockey team stands facing the flag and holding hands as one united group before playing the University of Rochester. The Golden Eagles have started the season with an overall record of 2—5 but look to add more to the win column with upcoming conference matches.

In a season full of ups and downs, The College at Brockport women’s field hockey has been inconsistent as of late. Throughout the season, the team has been somewhat fickle. The Golden Eagles scored four goals in its first game against Keuka College and was then held to one goal over the next three losses. During those three games, the team was outscored 13-1. A strong answer to that skid was needed and the Golden Eagles delivered with a 4-0 win over The Sage Colleges.

Keeping the momentum from the victory over Sage is key. This is because Brockport is in the midst of a six-game road trip. While all the games are in New York State, six straight road games is never an easy obstacle for a team to overcome. Games four and five of the trip were played at Utica on Wednesday, Sept. 19 and at SUNY Oswego on Saturday, Sept. 22.

The game at Utica started very poorly for the Golden Eagles. Utica’s senior forward, Rylee Meelan, scored within the first two minutes to get the Pioneers off to a 1-0 lead. Meelan struck again early in the second half to give Utica a 3-0 lead. This is when Brockport began to make a comeback. Freshman and sophomore forwards, Alyssa Fuccillo and Katie Ziemba, each scored their third goal of the season to cut the deficit to 3-2. However, Meelan scored her third goal of the game and eighth of the season in the 64’ to secure the 4-2 win for Utica.

Saturday’s game against conference opponent, Oswego State, was very similar to the game against Utica. One of the few differences was that Brockport opened the scoring. Ziemba scored in the fifth minute to give Brockport an early lead.

Oswego answered with four consecutive goals, all coming off the stick of senior, Katie Reynolds. Reynolds netted her seventh, eighth, ninth and tenth goals of the season to give Oswego a commanding 4-1 lead with 17 minutes remaining.

However, Brockport answered with a goal from junior forward, Molly Scarpello, scoring her third of the year, just four minutes later. Sophomore midfielder, Emily Hall, scored again for the Golden Eagles in the 63’, the first goal of her career. This is as close as Brockport would get as they dropped the game 4-3.

Despite two losses there were some positives taken out of the week by the players. On one hand, the offense had a consistent and somewhat successful week, scoring five goals. Of the five goals, Ziemba was the only player to score multiple goals, scoring only two. Senior midfielder, Christina Conkling, saw the success in the offense this week also.

“We are just starting to come into our own and coming closer to our potential,” Conkling said. “Scoring is the next step to winning and it’s part of our natural progression as a team.”

While the offense was successful, the defense may have taken a small step back. The unit allowed eight goals over two games, seven of them coming from two players. Senior defender, Kelsey Devine ,noticed what needs to be worked on and corrected for future games.

“I think as a whole we need to work on our transitions into our defensive end,” Devine said. “We do a good job dropping to help but we need to focus on finding and staying with marks in the dangerous areas.”

Staying with their marks and continuing the offensive push should help propel the Golden Eagles to two wins this week. The Brockport women’s field hockey team concludes its road trip on Wednesday, Sept. 26 at SUNY Geneseo. Brockport returns home on Saturday, Sept. 29 to host Wells College.